3.5

Summary

I Will Find You finally slows down a bit and begins to take on a more coherent shape, establishing a possible motive for what’s happening.

That’s more like it, right? When I Will Find You stops to take a breath, it becomes a much more coherent show. I appreciate that Harlan Coben’s Netflix thrillers aren’t exactly known for their coherence, but given the sheer rate that information was being thrown at us, Episode 4 feels like a welcome reprieve. And, probably not coincidentally, this is the first episode in which the underlying mystery starts to take on a legible shape. The irony, I suppose, is that it’s kind of an uninteresting one. But we’ll get to that.

Once again, we start with a flashback. This one, which takes place eight years prior, is designed to flesh out Hayden’s relationship with Rachel, which became platonic after a failed romance ruined by Hayden’s playboy immaturity. But it’s also setting up a later reveal, which is pretty predictable — Hayden is the son of Gertrude Pryce, whom Cheryl met at her fundraiser.

In the present day, though, Hayden’s pretty supportive. David shares the truth with him, lets him stay the night, gives him a gun, and gives him a lift. Then he bails Rachel out of police custody with the help of a hefty bail and a hotshot lawyer. Even though his mother’s clearly bad news, I’m not sure Hayden is. In fact, if forced to choose between her and Rachel, a part of me thinks he’d probably swing more towards the latter.

Rachel’s time in custody wasn’t especially illuminating, but it did help to nudge Williams and Greer in the right direction regarding David. I actually like these two. They’re the rare TV Feds who seem to be competent; they see right through Hilde’s caginess about David, and immediately figure out she helped him escape, which she wouldn’t have done if he was simply looking for revenge. Greer also wonders about the photo Rachel is carrying with her. It takes her until the end of the episode, but she eventually recognises Matthew’s birthmark and realises why David is so adamant that his son may still be alive.

Admittedly, this is helped along by Skunk. He turns up on the scene because Hilde called him, which the FBI find out about when they trace her phone records. Why would a little old lady be calling a crime family capo after a brief run-in with a convicted child killer? Hilde tries to lure David into an ambush, while the FBI pings his phone and discovers he’s in the city, so all roads converge on the very public ambush site. David gets the drop on Skunk, who shoots Hilde, and in the ensuing scuffle, Skunk flees. David gives chase and eventually catches up to his wounded prey, whom he drags into a building to torture while Williams and Greer follow the blood and try to track them down.

Skunk either isn’t inclined to answer David’s questions about Matthew or genuinely doesn’t know the answers, but one thing he does reveal is that this is all something to do with David’s father. Thanks once again to Hayden, David is able to escape, while Williams and Greer catch up with Skunk and arrest him. Ever generous, Hayden gives Rachel his car keys so they can drive to Boston to speak to Lenny, though he’s still protective of her where David is concerned. Rachel also refuses to treat this as a story, despite Jim constantly pushing for her to get ahead of it and publish something. Jim has shown up in minor scenes enough times at this point that there’s clearly going to be a media element in the near future.

Meanwhile, I Will Find You Episode 4 spends a good amount of time with Philip, Adam, and Lenny, the latter especially, since they stumble upon a new lead and suspect pretty much immediately. On the night of Matthew’s “murder”, Cheryl wasn’t at home, since she was called into the hospital to deal with a bus accident. However, it turns out that there were no bus accidents on that night, so the hospital administrator who confirmed the story was lying. And that hospital administrator was Ronald, Cheryl’s new husband.

Lenny goes to see Ronald at the hospital, but bumps into Cheryl instead. He floats his theory, but while she’s disinclined to believe it, you can tell it settles somewhere, especially given what Rachel has told her. Later, Lenny and Philip call in an old Boston PD colleague turned PI named Gerry to dig up more dirt on Ronald, who was a key witness in a Medicare fraud case but got cold feet before testifying. The Feds thought Nicky Fisher was behind it. Lenny calls Cheryl to give her the latest, but Ronald deletes the voicemail before she can hear it.

At the end of the episode, Lenny is looking at a case file on Liam Fisher — presumably a relative of Nicky? — when someone creeps up behind him and puts a gun to his head. Could this be all about revenge?

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